The Walking Operatives
by Beth - Geek Chick
Summary: Oneshot. Canon. Set towards beginning of Annie/Auggie friendship. Our favorite couple enjoy a night of DVD marathon watching of "The Walking Dead."


Oneshot. Setting: Maybe Season1/2 when A&A are just friends/flirty.

Enjoy.

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The credits started to roll, and Annie stretched, soothing her tightened muscles. DVD set marathons were enjoyable, but tough on muscles used to action.

And given how busy she'd been over the past days, weeks, her entertainment needs never coincided with airdates and regularly scheduled programming. As such, her DVD collection had grown and extended since she'd joined the DPD.

For once, though, she hadn't had to endure the "night of TV catch up" alone. Auggie had asked if she wanted to hit the bar after another long week, but after her explanation of wanting to stay at home in front of the TV, he'd invited himself along.

Not that she minded. Any time spent in Auggie's company so far had been enjoyable, and not just for his wit. He'd proven to be a loyal friend since they met, and she wasn't going to lie. He was easy on the eyes, from his tousled head down to his tight-fitting jeans.

As she eased her slightly cramped legs out from under her, she turned her head to the other end of the couch where Auggie sat, watching the first season of "The Walking Dead" with her. His headphones still sat on his ears, where he'd been listening to the DVS audio of the program. It saved Annie from explaining the program as they watched it together, but given his still-rapt attention to the words scrolling across the screen, she wondered what he was listening to.

"Auggie?"

He didn't move. In fact, if his eyes had been closed, she could've sworn he'd fallen asleep.

"Auggie?" she asked again, reaching over to place a hand on his leg.

"Aahhh!" he screeched, batting her hand away with such a force that she wondered if she'd have a bruise in the morning. As such, it scared her so much that she nearly vaulted over the couch.

"Auggie, what the hell?!" she shouted.

He hastily pulled his headphones off and whipped his head towards her. It was then that she saw the look on his face. Terror. Or she thought it was terror. Since she'd never seen Auggie scared, she wasn't sure, but his mouth was open slightly, his skin was pale except for slight flushes on his cheeks, and his unseeing eyes were dilated and jerking.

"Is it over?" he asked.

"Yeah, the credits are rolling. Doesn't the DVS say that?"

Auggie took a deep breath and a crooked smile appeared. "Yeah, of course."

To her eyes, though, Annie knew something else was going on. "Then what made you scream like a little girl and nearly take my hand off?" she asked.

He didn't answer and instead put all of his attention into wrapping the wire carefully around his headphones. With a dawn of realization, Annie knew that more than being startled out of his headphone world was wrong with Auggie.

She wasn't sure whether she should be laughing at his terror after watching fake zombies or supportive 'cause, really, the show was scary at times. She settled for a mix of the two.

"They are kind of scary, aren't they?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," Auggie answered, way too quickly to be taken seriously.

Annie smiled and slid back over close to him. "The zombies. The crazy survivors. To tell the truth, I'm not sure which ones I'd be scared of most."

His mouth twisted up at the side at her small joke. "The survivors. Zombies can't shoot a gun."

"Exactly."

He still looked really unsettled, and Annie suddenly no longer felt like laughing.

"How bad was the descriptions?"

He half-laughed and ran a hand across his face. "Pretty detailed. Wanted to pull the headphones off a couple of times, but…"

His voice trailed off, and Annie slid up close, draping an arm across his shoulders. Her other hand took his headphones and laid them on the table.

"Have you never seen a zombie flick? You know, before?" she asked, her fingers soothingly tracing along his shoulder.

"What, you mean like 'Night of the Living Dead' or something?"

"Yeah, or '28 Days Later' or –"

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"How is that possible?" she asked with a laugh. "God, I remember Danielle and I having late night marathons of horror movies when we were kids. Mom and Dad had no idea. When they asked, we told them we were watching Disney movies. You know, Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast."

"No, no movie marathons with my brothers, though I'd doubt they'd let me if they had one in the first place."

Annie's hand stopped for a few seconds at his words, then started their ministrations again. "Didn't know you had brothers."

"Mm, four of them. I'm the youngest. They like to call me 'the unexpected one' 'cause our parents didn't exactly plan on me."

Annie bit her lip to stop herself from asking him to explain what that meant. But his tone and the edge of bitterness in his voice spoke volumes that he didn't get along with his siblings as well as she and Danielle did. Her heart lurched a little bit with that knowledge. She decided to keep on with her soothing movements.

"Sorry to have to inflict my obsessions on you like that. I promise to pick a better DVD set next time you come around."

His head turned around to her, and she saw her change of topic worked its magic, and the teasing twinkle was back in his eyes. "But how will I find out who Lori ends up with?"

Annie laughed, then said. "That's true. But, speaking as a girl, Rick is much cuter than Shane."

His eyebrow rose at that. "Oh, really?"

"Well, yeah," Annie said. "Didn't the descriptive service give a visual of what the two actors looked like?"

He shook his head. "No, but, speaking as a guy, I'm not sure if that'd help me."

"Trust me," she said, laying her head on his shoulder. "Andrew Lincoln is a lot easier on the eyes than Jon Bernthal."

"And who –"

"Oh, sorry. Andrew Lincoln plays Rick and Jon Bernthal plays Shane."

"Ahh, okay."

"Want me to describe them to you?" she asked.

"No, it's bad enough knowing you got a crush on the lead character. I don't need the visual of how his eyes just look into your soul."

"Hey!" she said, slapping his shoulder.

"Am I lying?" he teased.

"Hmm," Annie said noncommittally, easing her arm back from around his shoulders. "Since you don't seem so traumatized from your 'Walking Dead' marathon, maybe I should get to cleaning up here."

She reached forward to grab the now depleted oversized popcorn bowl, but was pulled back before her fingers could reach it. "Hey!"

She suddenly found herself sprawled halfway across Auggie's lap with his arms wrapped around her middle and upper chest. "Who says I'm not traumatized anymore?" he asked.

Brushing her hair out of her eyes where it fell when he pulled her across his lap, Annie saw the laughter and teasing in his eyes, but also a surprising look of hope and longing. She swallowed a gasp of surprise, and instead decided to just give in to the fact that she was in her best friend's arms, and he was looking at her w/ something more than just friendship.

Ever since she met the man, she'd been half in love with him, but given the freedom with which he seemed to share his affections, she soon settled back into the friend zone.

However, despite her misgivings, Annie couldn't help but be drawn in right now. It seemed that all pretenses and joking had faded away, and the only thing that existed in that moment were her and him.

Her mouth opened to ask what was going on, or perhaps to ask what he was doing, but just then, his other hand – the one that wasn't holding onto her arm – wrapped around her head and slid through her hair, just brushing her brow line.

Annie often wondered about his abilities as a blind man, but that was far from her mind now as emotions flickered across his face quickly, and his hands were deliberately stroking her as smooth as any previous lover she'd ever had.

His question echoed in her mind, and she answered, "Are you still suffering?"

He nodded, the obvious double entendre evident in the playful grin on his face. "Not sure I can make it through the night. You know, nightmares and all."

Now, Annie was by all means a prude nor a virgin. In fact, she thought of herself as pretty worldly, but the subtle question and the way it flowed off of Auggie's tongue had her entire body lighting and sparking with desire. She had only a few seconds, she knew, to answer. And for some reason, her brain decided to side with the rest of her body in its answer.

"My bed's big enough for two."

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**A/N Had this story idea in the hopper for a while. Finally got around to ending this silly little oneshot. Given the tenor of this season's storyline, kinda disillusioned with Covert Affairs' story telling abilities. The whole "one storyline per season" really puts me off. Who else is craving for Season 1 goodness? :)**

**Please review.**


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